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tv   PBS News Hour  PBS  August 26, 2013 3:00pm-4:01pm PDT

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captioning sponsored by >> ifill: the obama administration declared today the syrian government did use poison gas on its citizens and the u.s. will hold the assad regime accountable. good evening. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, after facing sniper fire, u.n. inspectors arrived at the site of the alleged chemical weapons attack in syria.. we have the latest on the investigation, and look at options on the table for a u.s. response. >> ifill: a massive wildfire near yosemite national park has engulfed more than 200 square miles, threatening key sources of water and power for the city of san francisco. jeffrey brown gets the latest on the dangerous blaze.
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>> woodruff: we continue our march on washington conversation series, as a father and son reflect on what that event has young people were found with courage and some often radical symptoms, i wouldn't have the >> ifill: and we close with the story of army staff sergeant ty michael carter, who received the nation's highest military honor today for his bravery druing the war on afghanistan. that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway.
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>> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the united states insisted today it is "undeniable" that syria's rulers gassed their own people last week, just outside damascus. that was coupled with new warnings of repercussions yet to opportunit jeervemake no mistake, presidene accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapons. >> from secretary of state john kerry, a warning, there is no doubt that it happened. >> the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, killing of women
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and children and innocent bystander is a moral on sen tir. for five days syria refused to let the u.n instead it attacked the area further, shelling it and systematically are destroying evidence. that is not the behavior of a vernment that has nothing to hide. >> kerry spoke hours after a u.n, the team finally made it to a makeshift hospital, in a rebel-held area where they met with doctors and took blood and tissue samples from survivors. local officials said it all came too late since those killed have already been buried. but in an interview with a russian newspaper, syrian president b ashar assad denied
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using chemical weapons.-first h, first they level accusations and then collect evidence. ban ki-moon spoke in seoul, south korea. >> clearly, this was a major and terrible incident. we all told the families of the victims attract. >> meanwhile u.s. navy fighters and jets were available in the region. over the weekend, president obama met with his military and national security advisors to hash out a response. defense secretary chuck hagel weighed in today as he visited
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visitedness indonesia. >> it will be within the framework of justification. >> john mccain led congressional support of rons. >> if the united states doesn't stand by and take serious action, such as launching cruise missiles, our credibility is diminished more, if there's anything less. >> more cautious if their tone, democratic senator jack reed on face the nation yesterday. >> we can't let ourselves get in a situation where this becomes a springboard for a general military operations in syria to try to change the dynamic. that dynamic is going to be long term very difficult and ultimately established and settled by the syrians.
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>>woodruff: overseas, pressing for action. >> all within our power to act within the international community to bring those responsible to justice. >>woodruff: in jerusalem, the french foreign minister says there's been no decision on international intervention. but: >> it is unthinkable that once what happened is proven and those responsible identified there will not be a strong response by the international community. >> from moscow one of syria's largest allies warned the international comucialt community to tread carefully. >> the use of force without the approval of the united nations security council is a very grave violation of international law. if anybody thinks that bombing and destroying the syrian infrastructure and leaving the are battle field for the opponent to win that is an
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illusion. >>woodruff: meanwhile britain u.n. security council's approval a >> woodruff: to discuss what u.s. actions against syria might look like and the the strategic objectives behind them, i'm joined by richard haass, a former top state department and national security council official. he's now president of the council on foreign relations. and jeffrey white, formerly a senior analyst at the defense intelligence agency and currently a defense fellow at the washington institute for near east policy. military resp. >> welcome back to the newshour to both of you. richard haass, if there's been undenial use of chemical weapons against assad against his own people, what then is the administration waiting for? >> well, what they're waiting for is to essentially put into place the international political context. that means there's some kind of a coalition of the willing, a number of the nato allies,
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possibly nato more formally, a number of arab states, australia you heard from, an international coalition essentially that would participate in it and also talk about what to do if there's various forms of retaliation from syria and any of the countries backing syria. >>brown: what would be the purpose richard haass of an action the energies would take? >> twofold, principally to underscore, that chemical destruction including biological and nuclear did cannot become the normal weapon. cannot in any way be diluted. this far transcends syria. secondly, the united states may commit a so-called red line. the president basically threw down the gauntlet over the last year or so telling the syrians that if they were to use
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chemical weapons it would be a game changer, would change his calculus and so forth. the sierraians have apparently used chemical weapons twice, last year and now. sending an announcement to iran where the united states has put down a red line. the word of the united states is to be taken seriously. so the stakes as large as they are in syria judy actually far transcend what is going on there. >>woodruff: jeff white if there were to be an attack, what would the targets be? what would be weapons be? >> it depends. it could be anything from a small trying with cruise missiles alone up to a very large military operation including aircraft. in all likelihood we'll focus initially on targets that are associated with the chemical warfare operation with command and control of syrian forces-wiy
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were involved in firing the weapons. but it could also be broader than that and to include attacks on surface to surface missile units and air force units. >>woodruff: you're not talking about the storage locations the stock piles of chemical weapons >> i don't think those will be attacked. release of agents into the air or into the ground or whatever and that would leave the u.s. open to you know accusations that we're actually causing the chemical warfare problem in syria. pretty wide range that the u.s. and any allies would choose to hit. you're saying command and control to what -- what size targets are we talking about? >> i think we're talking about you know a target set, right? made up of various types of targets ranging from ground force units, artillery u and
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so on to command and control nodes, to headquarters of units in the damascus area to the ministry of defense to the syrian army headquarters. it's up to the administration and its allies to decide exactly what target set they want to hit. but they've got a wide variety they've goe means to do it. so it's a matter of you know an internal decision. >>woodruff: richard haass you talked about consulting with others. what allies are you -- is it your understanding the u.s. would do this in concert with? would there need to be a united nations involvement? >> there would not need to be a united nations involvement judy. quiet honestly we couldn't get it. quite possibly the russians and comoins would prevent it. it's not the only form of multilateralism.
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willing to give this a degree of international support, and considerable legitimate meas. can i speak one other point here? there's going to be a ceiling often it. what the united states is going to do is react to cw, chemical weapons. of anything open ended. this is going to be punitive and there's going to be an end to it. the administration wanting to respond wants equally to avoid becoming a protagonist. in this civil war i syria. to thread the needle, doing enoughake the message on chemicals but without getting fashion and what could be in the end a very difficult undertaking. >>woodruff: you're saying in change the balance of the power
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equation right now in syria? >> if we wanted to change the balance of power i would argue a better way to do it rather than using u.s. military forces directly would be to provide significantly help to those members of the opposition we could work with, to give them the kind o of antiarmor and antiaware fare weapons. what could be a long term quagmire in ways that could be recommend nishence in afghanistan and iraq. >>woodruff: jeffrey white, what would be the on the part of the syrians. >> there cosh, thought is the syrian government will roll with the punch. >>woodruff: why do you think that? >> i don't think they want to commit suicide by retaliation. utle or its allies or its
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interests would lead to i think even greater strikes against the syrian government. >>woodruff: what about iran, what about hezbollah which is-vd backers? >> hezbollah they're not interested in getting into it-w. and iran i think will be very cautious in kind of a traditional way. there's always the possibility for some kind of covert act against u.s. interest, a terrorist attack or so on. and hezbollah and iran can certainly mount those but i don't think any great large scale direct retaliation against anybody. >>woodruff: richard haass use is moments ago the office of house spieker john boehner said, in conversation with the white house, not with the president but the white house, said that any military action has to be preceded by consultation with congress, clearly to find
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objectives, broader objectives for stability. what does this statement introduce, is this going to be an element of consulting with congress? >> the consultations have already begun. i don't think the administration will require or slow down for any formal congressional authorization but it would be foolish not to consult with congress. reinforce the idea that the united states does need to respond to chemical weapons but there needs to be a ceiling on that response. there is just as much concern in doing too much as it is in doing too little in congress. i thought senator reed in your prepared piece got it about right. underscore this norm, this taboo against chemical weapons. it can't go without reaction but this shouldn't be the beginning if you will of an open ended american participation in thesy. i think that's what any
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consultations with congress would reinforce. >>woodruff: richard haass, jeffrey white, we thank you boat. both. >> ifill: still to come on the newshour, the massive wildfire outside yosemite; the march on washington, 50 years on; and the medal of honor is awarded to one of our bravest. but first, with the other news >> holman: the leaders of two former militant groups in egypt are offering a truce to end the violence. the islamist organizations called today for supporters of ousted president mohammed morsi to halt their street protests if the military-backed government ends its crackdown. meanwhile, former president hosni mubarak appeared in court sunday for the first time since being released from prison last week. he's being retried for the deaths of protesters during the 2011 uprising that drove him from power. a separate trial also opened for three muslim brotherhood leaders accused of inciting violence.
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the united nations said today it expects all member states to respect the privacy of diplomatic communications. that came after the german magazine "der spiegel" reported the u.s. national security agency hacked into internal communications at u.n. headquarters in new york. the magazine cited documents obtained from n.s.a. leaker edward snowden. they claimed the n.s.a. also bugged the european union's offices in washington. in china, disgraced political figure bo xilai now awaits the verdict in his corruption trial. in closing arguments today, bo denounced the two main witnesses against him. he charged his wife is deranged and his former police chief is dishonest. prosecutors argued bo made millions of dollars illegally and interfered in a murder investigation. he was a rising star in the ruling communist party before the scandal broke. the school year is just getting started in most of the u.s., and already the weather has intervened. severe heat in the midwest today forced schools in at least six states to end classes early. readings reached nearly 100 degrees in much of the region,
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including nebraska, iowa, minnesota, the dakotas and illinois. many of the affected schools have sections that are not air conditioned. on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average lost 64 points to close at 14,946. the nasdaq fell a fraction of a point to close at 3657. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to gwen. >> ifill: thousands of firefighters pushed today to make headway against one of the largest fires in california's history. >>brown: by air, and by land, and all out to south on the enormous wind fire is raging in mountains.rra nevada effort. >>brown: the fire has schooled some 237 square miles of california forest since i flamed to life a week ago.
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burning at the northwestern edge of yosemite national park. >> we are facing record dry fuel conditions across this state. that has led to well above average the number of fires since the beginning of may and with this fire and others we're certainly in stretching the number of acres in record that we have bender. >>brown: some 3600 firefighters managed today to expand continued lines to 15% of the fire.to face the challenges of rugged pa parched terrain. >> knowing where it could go is a little unpredictable. >>brown: another unpredictable pharmacist where the fire do reach out to affect san francisco, more than 200 miles away. on friday governor jerry brown declared a state of emergency,
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to protect transmission lines. also at risk, the hetch-hetchy reservoir. source of nearly all of the city's water. officials maintain water quality has not been affected. still governor brown warned the effects may be seen when the winter rainy season comes. >> you've got a moon scape where the floods can contaminate the waters. >>brown: in terms of property damage the fire has destroyed relatively few buildings and several small towns are under threat. the system camp near the town of berkeley, a 90-year-old tourist facility burned to the ground. >> there's a lot of summer camps a lot of flammable, i would imagine they had their hands
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full. >>brown: elsewhere residents evacuation centers. >> it's sad you know, you never think you're going to be here in the situation. and when you watch other people on tv that you can't help that are in it, then when it hits home, wow. >>brown: as for yosemite, the majority of the park with its majestic vistas and waterfalls remains relatively unaffected. while some back hiking has been closed, it remains open to visitors and campers. firefighters are trying to protect two groves of the park's famous giant sequoias estimated to be 200 years ol. old. we get two updates on the situation this evening from officials dealing with the fire. first, captain mike mohler. he's the public information officer with the california department of forestry and fire protection, and has been in the "rim fire" area since thursday.
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i talked to him a short time captain mohler, thanks for joining us. we heard about slightly more acquaintment today. what's your assessment of the latest situation? >> well, yeah we're up to 15% contained, on the rim fire. what that means to us right now is yes, we've increased our containment but this is a 150,000 acre fire, we've had extreme weather conditions. we still are have a difficult firefight in front of us. >>brown: what are the conditions that the firefighters are experiencing at this point? >> we are experiencing wind shifts, this fire is building up into a column which creates erratic winds. we have critical fuel moisture and steep rocky rocky terrain that makes i.t. difficult to ge. >>brown: are you going to predict ahead of it or reaght as
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it happen? >> we do predict the weather that's key in fighting these fires but mother nature we have to work with her and aust and we have to do this on a daily basis, we have to be dynamic and ready for theire fronts and we do predict it. we place containment lines what we call tins plannings and hopefully we are ready when the fire comes. >>brown: what resources do we have? do you have enough in terms of equipment and firefighters themselves? >> we do. this fire is not only the number one fire in the state of california but it is also the number one fire in the nation. so resource orders are come to the rim fire. we have about 4,000 ground troops and several area resources not o helicopters but also fixed wing and we've also activated the california national guard that is a big resource for fighting these fires. >>brown: tell us about protecting the power and water sources. >> well we're working very
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closely the incident command team from the u.s. forest service is work very closely with the city of san diego public utilities and also the city of san diego fire department but i can tell you that is a very important structure and infrastructure so firefighters and crews are out there protecting that area. >>brown: there were reports late today that the fire is getting quite close to the reservoir. >> that is correct. but in anticipation of that fire again we've put in what we call dozer lines hand crew license we have also surrounded that with engine companies in preparation for that firefight. we've been monitoring since the continue to monitor it for the city of san francisco. >>brown: everybody has been happened in arizona. does that change the way you fight fires now? >> well, yes, in prescott arizona, weighs heavy in all the firefighters here. safety is our prime concern.
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escape routes, all of these are trained professionals. absolutely, we will that is going to be an extensive investigation. taken a moment of silence at the rim fire to remember those firefighters. minds and we have to monitor on a daily basis. >>brown: the other thing that's being watched is the sequoia groves. what measures are you taking? >> thatio park service hasvery d fire preparation. they've evacuated those groves and they also have protection measures not only sprinklers but they've prepped around those groves. treasure but a worldwide treasure. command team of the u.s. forest and the fifthers to protect those groves. >>brown: do you know anything more about the cause of this at this point?
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>> i do not know t cause. right now it is under investigation an ongoing investigation as we speak. >>brown: for you in termination of historical perspective this is pretty serious. >> it's very serious. this community throughout this area not only yosemite but all the communities involved they are not foreign to wildfire. this area has a lot of fire history. they have a lot of cleared defensibpace. in california history, it has continued to grow. with the troops we have we hope to turn on this quickly but it is a dynamic situation. >>brown: captain mohler, good luck to all of those. mr. harlan kelly, thanks for joining us. i know you were out near the fire today. what is your assessment of the situation? >> yes i was just out there earlier today.
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write was was at moccasin which is a town about 45 miles away from the face of our hetch-hetchy dam. i tell you, i definitely want to give the women and men out there fighting the fires a lot of respect, and whatever support we can do for those brave men and women out there fighting the fires. also, i wanted to really focus on our staff to really focus on our infrastructure, and really look at assessing our infrastructure, when we are able to get in and examine our water lines, and also, our power lines.-bit about that. what kind of problems are you having with the power stations right now? >> well, currently there are two power stations that are not up and running, we have one. typically we produce about 160 megawatts of power, to meet the municipal load in san francisco. and currently, we have one power station which is producing about
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50 megawatts. so for the balance we are working with a bank that we have with another utility company, pacific gas and electric, where when we have excess power we put it in the bank. we're now withdrawing that and then we go onto the spot market and purchase power.-so ay until today, we spent about $600,000 in additional power purchases. >>brown: and the reservoir, the issue is contamination. that because the fire is getting quite close to the reservoir. >> yeah, so i just wanted to make sure that we are clear that we feel comfortable that we're being able to deliver clean, fresh water, high quality water like we always have done. what we're concerned about is the future impact of the water from the ash that will fall into
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our reservoirs. so what we're doing is looking at contingency plans. and so currently one of the contingency plans that we are currently doing is we are taking more of the water out of the reservoir and we are putting it into local storage. right now, the turbidity is the same as it was before the fire. turbidity is a measure of poliness so we feel more confident to bring that water into our local reservoirs. if the turbidity exceeds that then we will start treating our system from the help hetchy sysm which we don't currently do. >>brown: how concerning is that to san francisco which is hundreds of miles away? >> well we have a large water source that is 85% of 2.6 million citizens that enjoy our
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hehchy water. we wanted to do everything we can in our power to protect our water source. but the bottom line is right now we are providing water safe drink water to all our citizens of san francisco and the bay area. >> harlan kelly, thanks so much and good luck. >> thank you very much. >> woodruff: we turn now to our commemoration of the march on washington. first, a few words from charmaine mckissick-melton of durham, north carolina. her father, the late floyd mckissick, then national chairman of the congress of racial equality, or core, spoke at the original event. >> as one of the leaders was told they did not want childre-g might happen. we turned on the tv. we were really, really disappointed that we weren't
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there because we saw lots of kids there. my father was not supposed to be a speaker at the march. it was supposed to be a core person and of course that wok the director, james farmer, we call him jim farmer. jim was arrested and in louisiana so therefore my father was called on as second in command of core, to speak for the march. he tended to be a little fierier, not quite a goe gospelt quite a baptist minister but he stuck to script it seemed to me, more than northerly. to charmaine, it is my faith in you and other youth that i rely on.
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>> woodruff: that was charmaine mckissick-melton from durham, north carolina. you can find her story, and other firsthand accounts for the web series, "memories of the march," produced by public television stations around the country, on the pbs web site, "black culture connection." >> ifill: now to our own coverage of the anniversary. thousands gathered saturday to mark the occasion on the national mall, the site of the original march. elected officials, activists and civil rights leaders addressed the crowd, calling for a more expansive interpretation of >> as we gather today, 50 years. later, their march is now our march and it must go on. and our focus has broadened to include the cause of women, of latinos, aasian-americans, of lesbians, of gays, of people with disabilities, and of countless others across this great country who still yearn for quality, opportunity and
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fair employment. >> i keep hearing people talking about dr. king's dream. when i was younger, i said to my mother, my friends say why are we dreaming? you need to be awake to fight. well, my mother said to me, you got to understand what dreams are for. dreams are for those that won't accept reality. as it is. so they dream of what is not there. and make it possible. >> also speaking saturday, the slain civil rights leader's son, martin luther king iii. >> i like you continue to feel his presence. i like you continue to hear his voice crying out in the wilderness. the admonition is clear. this is not time for a nostalgic
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commemoration nor time for self congratulatory celebration, the pass is not done, the journey is not complete. >> ifill: the passage of 50 years has altered the way we consider the march, especially for those who marched and those not yet born. i spoke recently with civil rights leader cleveland sellers, who was there in 1963 and was active in the movement, and his son, south carolina state representative bakari sellers, who is now running for lieutenant governor in their >> cleveland sellers, bocari sellers, thanks for joining us. cleveland slers, who drew so much in your career as a civil rights activist, you were part of freedom summer and you marched on washington in 1963. so many turning points that happened during that time. what about the march was different for you?
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>> well, the march occurred in 1963 and at that point i was an 18-year-old sophomore at howard university. all of the activities of young people across the south, primarily, in their efforts to sit in and freedom rides and then you had the students in birmingham who faced the water hoses and the dogs. and later that summer, '63, you had the murder of medgar evers and we began to feel young people like we were beginnito-mt is, that we were experiencing a unique time in our lives where we wanted to say that we wanted our freedom and wanted it now. and so we had an opportunity to be involved in the march on washington. volunteer there in washington, d.c.
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spent a lot of time making posters and make sandwiches, cheese sandwiches. i think some 70,000 posters and how many cheese sandwiches we actually made. but i was there the next morning and it was a thrill to see all these buses and crowds and masses of people coming to washington with different objectives in mind. >>ifill: bocari sellers, you were barely a glean in your parents' ion. how did you first learn about the march? >> my upbringing was a little bit different than most, i didn't next have to go and open up a library book, i didn't have to wait for my third and fourth grade teachers to educate me on brown versus board of education.
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to me, growing up, the son of cleveland sellers and gwendolyn sellers, i really knew they understood the prison floors and the underground sellers. for them it was real life, growing up and hearing are about the march on washington. i think the most unique things that stand out about this journey was that it was sparked by young people. and there were young people that were 14, 15, 16 years old, 21, 22, 23 years old. and you know i got this little basic understanding that if not me, then who and if not now, then when? and without those young people, without those young visions, those young hearts, those young people who were filled with courage, some oftentimes radical sense of invincibility i wouldn't have the opportunities
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i had today. so to me the march on washington was a moment in time and a moment in history that we look back on and we learn from. >>ifill: you decided it was important that your children take this in not just from the history books but in reality. >> yes, i felt it was important for us to transfer many of those experiences, and that knowledge, to young people in general. and i just had the opportunity to carry my children around with me as i was engaged in other kinds of civil rights oriented activities. many of the legends of the civil rights era. you know, the andy youngs and the stokley carr mulocks and the lrs goes -- carrmichaels, i felt
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for myself they should understand that history and understand that struggle. >>ifill: why did you, after understanding your father and mother's history, decide the elected path? >> my parents taught us that education was the line to the insatiable dream. my father drilling our heads, make sure you're a change agent, whatever field you're going into, whether field of medicine like my sister or my brother or me. carver, but it's not about politics it's about public service. and i had the audacity to run for public office when i was 20 years old, announced i was going to run when i was 20, 21 years
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old and win. and now i'm running for lieutenant governor all because my father and others like him have given so much to the state of south carolina, i really feel it's my responsibility to give as much as i have to make sure that people have access, and they fought for access during the march on washington. and although our goals have changed i still believe my mission to be true. >>ifill: cleveland sellers, when we look back years later, do you feel the goals of the march were accomplished? half weeks after the march and that was the bombing of the 16th street baptist church in birmingham when reality set in, that freedom was not to be just given to you and that that struggle was to be a lifelong struggle for many of us who were very young at that particular have seen that there were achievements beyond the march on
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washington. i think the march actually mobilized peebl and gave you the opportunity to talk about specific issues. but you have to do the grunt work in order to organize it and you begin to see young people go across the south and become organized. you saw selma in the 1965 voting rights act. you saw the mississippi summer project in the 1964 civil rights bill. you saw affirmative action, you saw all of these things grow out of that. you saw an effort to empower marginalize eed people across te country. we used the model we were using in terms of organizing and sex-determination pulling people together so they could take control of their own lives. those models were actually both things that grew out of the movement. washington is one of those epic
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points that there are a number of other epic points that actually pulled this whole process together. i think it's important to understand that even on the struggles on the march on washington, get the message out. >>ifill: we are still having big national conversations as they say about race, still coming out of the trayvon martin episode. and i wonder as you look back we wonder whether it's leadership that's missing, whether we're just not honest as a people in discussing these issues or whether we've come much further than they give us credit for? >> i think we have come a long ways. is you have to have committed people who are constantly being vij lant and make -- vigilant and make sure that things that happen do not hap to undue the progress that has been made. i look back at the roll-back of affirmative action, i look at the attack on the voting rights
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act just recently. i look at the unemployment and those kinds of issues, it's ironic that in 2013, looking back 50 years, that the message, march on washington for jobs and freedom are applicable even today. question to you, what is your sense of w has and has not come in the 50 years sense? >> for me we brought up the trayvon martin case and one thing i've learned to do is take a look at things from a 50,000 foot view, for me it's much larger than that. we have a generation of african american young men who are growing up hopeless, full of despair and we have figure out why that is. you know on a larger scale, my father recently talked about the voting rights act and voter i.d. and some of the attacks that have been mate over the voting
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rights act. you can't help but agree that we are on the verge of chaos in this country. but my challenge is to still build community and i think we've made progress. i understand we have a way to go. people in my generation to understand the nuances. for me it's no longer black and white. the issue of my father's generation is very much still in presence today, but to create a socioeconomic level, everyone in the united states has access and ability to attain the american dream. >>ifill: each breaking through in his own way, bocari sellers, cleveland sellers. >> ifill: the passage of 50 thanks.as altered the way we
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newshour.pbs.org. and watch speeches on saturday on our youtube page. >> woodruff: president obama presented army staff sergeant ty michael carter with the nation's highest military award, the medal of honor. he said carter "displayed the essence of true heroism" for his actions in the battle at combat outpost keating in afghanistan on october 3, 2009. here are excerpts from today's >> this is an historic day. the first time in nearly half a are century since the vietnam war that we have been able to present the medal of honor to two survivors of the same battle. indeed when we paid tribute to climomy earlier this year
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we recalled how his company allowed the cover, of two persons to make their escape. the medal that we present today the soldier that we honor, ty carter is the story of what happened in that humvee. as dawn broke that october morning with ty and most of the troops still in their bunks the worst fears became a reality. 53 american soldiers were suddenly surrounded by more than 300 taliban fighters. the outpost was being slammed from every direction. machine gun fire, rocket propelled grenades, sniper fire. it was chaos. the blizzard of bullets and steel into which ty ran not once or twice or even few times but perhaps ten times. the fire forced them inside and
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so it was that five american soldiers including ty and specialist stephan mace found themselves trapped in that humvee, the tires flat, rpg pouring in, threatening to break through the armor of their vehicle and worst of all, taliban fighters were penetrating the camp. the possibilities were unbelievable. on the ground wounded about a few yards away. if you are left with one image, let it be this. ty carter, bending over, picking up stefan mace, cradling him and getting him back to that humvee. the battle was not over. he helped rally his troops as they fought yard by yard.
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they pushed the enemy back, our soldiers re-took their camp. now, ty says this award is not mine alone. the battle that day, he will say, was one team and one fight. and evee did what we could do to keep each other alive. some of these men are with us again. as we honor ty' the battle field, i want to recogn his courage in the other battle he has fought. ty has spoken openly, with honesty and extraordinary eloquence, about his struggle with posttraumatic stress. the flash backs, the night marries, the anxiety, the heartache that makes it sometimes almost impossible to get through a day. so let me say as clearly as i can to any of our troops or veterans who are watching and struggling. look at this soldier. look at this warrier, he's as
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tough as they come and if he can find the courage and strength to not only speak out about it and stay strong then so can you. so can you. as we prepare for the reading of the citation i will ask you ty to never forget the difference you've made on that day. because you helped turn back that attack, soldiers are alive today, like your battle buddy in that humvee, bradson, i owe ty my life, because you urged -- you had the urge to serve others at whatever cost, so many army families could welcome home their own sons. god bless you. ty carter and the soldiers of black knight troop, god bless all our men and women in uniform. god bless the united states of america. >> woodruff: the president also
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recognized the other soldiers of combat outpost keating, remembering the fallen from that battle and honoring their families. >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day. the obama administration declared the syrian government did use poison gas on its citizens. secretary of state kerry vowed the u.s. will hold the assad regime accountable, but aides said there's been no decision on military action. and thousands of firefighters labored to extend containment lines around a huge wildfire on the edge of yosemite national park in california. the big blaze threatened the water and power supplies for san francisco. >> woodruff: an editor's note before we go. on friday, in our honor roll of american service personnel killed in the afghanistan conflict, we incorrectly identified the hometown of army staff sergeant octavio herrara. he is from caldwell, idaho, not iowa. we are sorry for the error. and finally, we remember two women who died over the weekend, one a pioneer on wall street, the other an acclaimed actress
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of her generation. muriel siebert was the first-- and for a generation, the only-- woman who had a seat on the new york stock exchange. she founded her own discount brokerage firm on wall street and advocated on behalf of financial literacy for americans. in 1977, she became the first woman to serve as new york state's top banking regulator. she first became known for breaking through a >> growing up, and visiting new york and i visited the stock exchange. we were on the balcony looking at the floor. i said you know this looks exciting. get a job on wall street. and i came with $500.
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and i was an analyst on a salary, but at the same time, as institutions were giving me orders, and i had a following. but i got about 60% of what the men got. i asked one of my clients what large firm could i go to where i'll be paid equally? and he said, don't be ridiculous. you won't. by a seat -- buy a seat. work for yourself. my application turned the street updateupside down. they said we have never had a woman apply. you never dare apply. that was creating something someone had never done before. >> ifill: muriel siebert was 80 years old.
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julie harris was an accomplished actress of screen and the stage. she had dozens of credits over her career, achieving some of her greatest acclaim for her theater work. she played a wide variety of roles and won six tony awards, including for her one-woman show about emily dickinson, "the belle of amherst." she appeared frequently on television as well, including nighttime dramas like "the big valley" and "knots landing." harris was in a number of films as well, including "east of eden." here's a moment from that movie, as she falls for the tormented younger brother, played by james >> what are girls like that like? i mean, you don't really love them, do you? and why do you good out with them, is it because you're bad? you're not angry, are you? well, why do you, then? >> you think i'm bad?
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>> i don't know. i just don't know what is good and what's bad. you're so good and i'm not. good enough for ann anyway, sometimes when i'm with adam, he likes to talk about our being in love and think about it, that's all right, but these girls you go out with, maybe i don't know what love is exactly. i know love is good, the way aaron says but it's more than that, it's got to be. >> ifill: julie harris was 87 years old. >> woodruff: online, a closer look at the tv drama where chemistry is king. kwame holman has more. >> holman: on "breaking bad," walter white may be the science smarty behind a drug empire, but who are the real experts who help the show get it right? on
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lunch in the lab, we look at the scientific facts and fictions. it's a bird, it's a plane-- it's superman through the ages. we have a slideshow of the evolution of the man of steel. plus, how a merry-go-round ride played a role in america's civil rights history. that's part of our march on washington coverage on our homepage. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. gwen? >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. thank you, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:
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moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and friends of the newshour. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions
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>> this is "bbc world news." funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, >> at union bank, our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to help make strategic decisions.
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we offer tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." this is bbc world news america reporting from washington. i am jane o'briant. u.s. western inspectors are met with gunfire as they try to reach the site of a chemical attack. there is tough talk against the assad regime. >> make no mistake. president obama there must be accountability for those who would use the world most heinous weapons against the world's most honorable people. >> the high-profile trial draws to a close in china. now he also awaits the verdict. animals have long world rushes arctic oceans. oil and gas are moving and.

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